In Real Life ✓

47. Bold Of You To Assume I Love My Friends

"Okay, I've been waiting very patiently, but I gotta know," Tamara groaned. "What's February sixteenth?"

"Sorry, I'm not allowed to say," I replied, shrugging. As I'd expected, Charlotte and I had indeed been told not to say anything about the upcoming interview, so we were now just waiting for the dates and the ticket information and all that stuff to be released on Eddie Austin's social media. I knew I could trust Tamara, Leslie and Gilbert to keep it a secret, but it was so much more fun to watch them squirm. I mean, why else?

"Look, whatever it is, I need to know if there's a dress code," she said, banging her head against my locker. "I need to know what I should look like!"

"You should look like..." I paused to think as I opened my locker and put a few books in, ignoring the way Tamara started bouncing beside me. "Let's just say that you will probably be seen by a lot of people, but it's not a formal event."

"What?" she screeched. "A lot of people?"

"I don't even have formal clothing," Leslie muttered.

"Can we bring dates?"

"I don't even have a date..."

After holding back a snort, I told them, "I can get you more tickets if you want."

"Tickets?"

"Stop prying for clues. Do you want to bring Darren or not?"

Tamara nodded quickly.

"Okay, I'll make it happen."

Later that week, the dates and guests for the upcoming interviews were released on Eddie Austin's websites and Tamara and Leslie started a group call just to scream at me through their phones.

To say they were excited was... an understatement. I wasn't even aware of the announcement until their call, and to my surprise, I wasn't going to be the only internet celebrity there. On the same day that I was scheduled to come on TV, Eddie Austin had invited two of the biggest YouTubers to come and sit on the couch. I felt my heart beating a little faster at just the idea of sharing a seat with Mia Sophia, a super sweet and hilarious commentator and vlogger, and JakeAtStake, better known as Jacob, a gamer who'd been around since pretty much the birth of YouTube.

When I posted a Tweet to say that I was excited to be on the show, I almost fell off my fucking chair, because both Mia Sophia and Jacob liked it. Gilbert was just as perplexed. He'd been a big fan of Jacob for years and he couldn't believe that we were going to see him in real life. And Travis messaged me just to say the same thing—or rather, to spam me in all caps.

All I could say was ditto.

And not too long after, I got a call from Charlotte, who was clearly on a fucking roll with her accomplishments.

"Okay, so I thought it might be a good idea to set the merchandise plan in motion before you come on Eddie Austin's show, don't you think? You can announce it there or somewhere around that time, because that will probably really be, like... your peak. I've actually already found an artist who'd like to work with us. Do you wanna see some of his work?"

"Uhh..." I was still reeling from the prospect of going on TV with two huge role models, and now this? Charlotte's rapid-fire announcements were truly headache-inducing sometimes. Oh, what was I saying? Sometimes? They always were. "Sure?"

"Awesome! It's in your inbox now. Do you still wanna go with those quotes and images you mentioned?"

"Oh, um, yeah, let's see what this guy can come up with." I really wished I could have designed the merch myself, but I was about as creative as a rock. Middle school art class was hell, really. I'd burned every single drawing. I could only hope that the guy Charlotte had found had the same taste as me (and a hell of a lot more talent), but if he didn't, we could tell him to change the designs or find another artist.